The Communal Experience

by Veysey, Laurence R.

• ISBN13: 9780226854588
• ISBN10: 0226854582
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1978-11-01
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

The original impulse for groups to separate from society and establish communities of their own was religious. Though the religious side of this drive toward separation remains strong, the last two centuries have seen the appearance of secular communities with a socialist or anarchist orientation. In The Communal Experience, nominated for a National Book Award in 1973, Laurence Veysey explores the close resemblances between the secular and religious forms of cultural radicalism through intensive observation of four little-known communities. Veysey compares the history of secular communities such as the early Ferrer Colony and Modern School, of Shelton, New Jersey, with contemporary anarchist communities in New York, Vermont, and New Mexico. Religious communes--"Communities of Discipline"--such as the Vedanta monasteries of the early twentieth century are compared with contemporary mystical communities in New Mexico. Distinctions between the anarchist and the mystical groups are most obvious from their approach to communal life. As Veysey shows, anarchist communities are loose, unstructured, voluntaristic; the mystics establish more rigid life-styles, focus on spiritual leaders, and hold community a secondary goal to self-realization. In a new preface written for this Phoenix Edition, he describes his return to a New Mexican mystical community and the changes that have occurred in the six years since his last visit.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Phoenix Edition

Acknowledgments

Introduction

In Search of a Counter-Cultural Tradition

Anarchistic Communities

The Ferrer Colony and Modern School of Stelton, New Jersey The Ferrer Center and the Immigrant Life of New York Why Native Americans Joined the Ferrer Movement Flight from the City The Building of the Colony The Educational Radicalism of Elizabeth and Alexis Ferm Conflict Over Ideals Decline and Disappearance

Contemporary Anarchistic Communes New York Vermont New Mexico

Communities of Discipline

Vedanta Monasteries The Vedanta Movement in America Vedanta and Community Encounters Between Swamis and American Seekers The Limitations of the Monastic Impulse

New Mexico, 1971: Inside a "New Age" Social Order The External Tour Journal of a Five Weeks' Stay History and Intellectual Sources Individuals The Strength of the Fledgling Culture Ezra The Old in the New Seven Months Later

The Trend of American Cultural Radicalism

Index

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